Seniorcare Tip — Let a Beet a Day Keep Your Aging Mom’s Doctor Away

As we all know too well, the holiday season is full of dietary temptations. Our aging parents, if they want to remain as independent as possible and enjoy in-home care, must find ways to stay healthy. To counter the effects of the occasional holiday sweet treat or a heavy meal, we must help them squeeze some healthy vegetables and fruit into their diet.

Beets To The Nutritional Rescue

We have all heard the perennial proverb: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It’s true, apples have many terrific nutrients like pectin and are an excellent source of fiber. Beets, however, are being re-discovered as the world’s healthiest foods. Over the decades, the mass production of beets has done some harm to beet’s wholesomeness and reputation, but we are talking about beets that have been organically grown by local farmers. Those beets are packed full of nutrients, and many dietary experts utilize them to improve the health of a colon in their patients.

Organic Beets Are Packed With Many Nutrients, Vitamins and Minerals

Here is a partial list of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals found in organically grown beets:

B-Vitamin Folate

Manganese

Magnesium

Potassium

Calcium

Iron

Phosphorus

Zinc

Copper

Selenium

Fiber

All those nutrients, vitamins and minerals can really do wonders to improve mom and dad’s general health and well-being.

Beets Improve Blood Pressure and Brain Function

As we age, our capacity to generate nitric oxide degenerates, and so does our brain’s energy metabolism and neuron activity. Beet’s nitrates, which mom’s body converts to nitric oxide, increase blood flow to the brain by relaxing and dilating blood vessels, and thereby improving brain functioning. With nitric oxide, the blood vessels become superhighways for mom’s nutrient and oxygen-rich blood, which may improve circulation and blood pressure.

Beets Help with Functioning of Mom’s Liver

Mom’s liver is working hard every day to clean her blood and detoxify her organism. Beets do wonders for the liver with betaine — an amino acid — which prevents and reduces the accumulation of fat in the liver.

Beets Help Mom Fight Chronic Disease

Beet roots are full of B-vitamin folate, betaine, betalain and betacyanin pigments, powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents that fights free-radicals and inflammation-related diseases.

Beets Help Dad Stay Regular

So many aging Americans use synthetic fiber products like Metamucil to help them stay regular. Yet beets are fiber rich — especially the insoluble type of fiber — and will do wonders to help mom and dad stay regular naturally. Beets’ insoluble fiber will not only help with digestion and assist in preventing constipation, but will also reduce the risk of developing hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.

Consult Mom’s Doctor

As always, if your aging parents are taking medication or have a health condition like kidney stones, consult with their healthcare provider. Ask how incorporating beets into mom and dad’s diet can affect their condition, their medications, and improve their overall health and well-being. Moderation, even in beet consumption, is always the key.

As we can see, there are several reasons why many health and nutrition experts call beets wonder food. All those health benefits will come particularly helpful after your aging parents might have eaten one too many holiday sweets or heavy meals. Let a beet a day keep the doctor away from your mom and dad.

When selecting beets or any other vegetables and fruits, we always prefer the organically-grown kind. They cost a little bit more, but are free of pesticides and other harmful chemicals used by mass producers.

We hope that with more organic beets included in mom and dad’s diet, they will enjoy many more years of well-being and independent living at home, with minimal in-home care.

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